The present invention relates to stage installations and, more particularly, to winch assemblies for vertical movement of stage elements.
Staging of various productions frequently requires vertical movement of backdrops and various stage elements. Although arbors or counterbalances are used to reduce the amount of effort required to effect such movement, manual operation of the hauling lines requires strength and endurance, and frequently the movement is irregular and not precise. Winches are sometimes used to provide mechanical advantage, and electrically powered winches have been utilized in some installations. Productions have been becoming more complex with multiple scenic elements to be moved rapidly and precisely. The costs of stagehands to manipulate the hauling lines has been increasing.
In recent years, various stage operations have been transferred to computer controls, such as lighting and lateral motion of props.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel stage installation in which scenic units are moved rapidly and precisely under control of a remote computer.
It is also an object to provide such a stage installation in which computer controlled electrically driven winches may be clustered to effect the movement of scenic units.
Another object is to provide such a stage installation in which the computer controlled winches may be installed relatively quickly and easily, and wherein a computer program will effect smooth and reliable movement of the stage units.
It has now been found that the foregoing and related objects may be readily attained by a computer controlled winch assembly in a stage installation having a multiplicity of elements to be moved vertically. The winch assembly has a support member having a channel, a platform adjacent the support member, an electrical control raceway and an electrical power raceway in the channel, and a multiplicity of winches supported on the platform. Each of the winches includes a housing, a bidirectional servomotor in the housing, a rotating drum coupled to the servomotor to effect its rotation in either direction to haul or pay out a cable extending thereabout and operatively connected to an element to be lifted and lowered as the drum is rotated.
A connector is coupled to the electrical power raceway to provide power to the servomotor for its rotation, and a connector is coupled to the electrical control raceway to receive signals from a remote computer control to initiate and terminate operation of the servomotor.
Each of the winches includes a microprocessor receiving signals from the remote computer control and controlling operation of the servomotor, and each of the microprocessors has a unique address to which signals from the computer control are directed. The microprocessor also generates signals transmitted to the remote computer control through the electrical control raceway, and it amplifies and varies the electrical power supplied to the servomotor.
Each winch housing includes means securing it to the support member, and the installation includes cables wound about the drums and connected to arbors and cables or lines connected to stage elements to be moved thereby and to the arbors. The drum has ring gears on each end thereof engaged with a pair of pinion gears driven by a planetary gear rotated by the shaft of the servomotor.
The stage installation includes a computer control and power and electrical control cables connected to the raceways, with the electrical control cable being operatively connected to the computer control.